Rescue Me
by CecilaAlice
Summary: Pepper Potts was one hell of a woman, but she couldn't handle running a company and babysitting Tony all on her own. So when a young woman with a remarkable resume and job experience walks in to their lives, she hires her on the spot. Now it's her job to babysit, and she's actually good at it. If only she knew what she was getting herself in to.
1. Chapter 1

She couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe what had just happened to her. All she could feel was pain; pain in her chest, pain in her head, pain all over her body, and there was a high pitched ringing in her ears, giving her the worst headache she could have ever imagined, disorienting her. She felt warm liquid pooling on her chest and stomach and she felt as if she was moving her hands to examine it but her body wasn't responding and all she could do was lull her head to the side. She caught a view of Tony, who was pulling his shirt open, looking just as confused and disoriented, revealing the bullet-proof vest she'd made him wear, now wishing she'd made herself wear one, too. He looked over at her, slowly reaching out to her with what she was sure was the same pain she was feeling. She started to respond, and that's when everything went black.

* * *

 _Las Vegas, 36 Hours Prior_

Olive Bexley hurried down the hall of the hotel with her heels thudding on the fancy red carpeted floor and her eyes glued to the screen of her phone that her fingers were furiously typing away on. She hit send just as she reached the ballroom where the award ceremony was being held and snuck in as quietly as she could. There was a deep voice narrating the life story of her boss, Tony Stark but she wasn't listening. She'd heard it more times than she could count. She searched for a familiar face among the plethora of round tables that filled up the room and saw a big hand subtly waving her over from a few tables away. She gave a weak smile and slunk through the seated crowd to her seat by Obadiah Stan, rolling her eyes and looking utterly exhausted.

"Where is he?" Obadiah whispered. She gave him a look.

"I tried, but you know Tony. He does what he wants." She replied.

There was a roar of applause and the two gave each other knowing looks before putting their hands together for Tony. The narrator finished up the intro video and after another round of applause from the crowd a spotlight landed on the stage where Tony's best friend, Colonel James "Rhodey" Rhodes stood to present Tony with his award. If only he knew.

"As liaison to Stark Industries," he started, "I've had the unique privilege of serving with a real patriot. He is my friend and he is my great mentor. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to present this year's Apogee Award to Mr. Tony Stark."

The room erupted in cheers for Tony and Rhodey looked around for his best friend, landing on Olive and Obadiah, both of them shaking their heads. Rhodey gave the subtlest of looks so as not to alarm the crowd before Obadiah stood and started for the stage. He was the Stark family's longtime friend, ally, mentor, partner, you name it. He was always there for Tony, including standing in for him when he ditched award ceremonies.

"Thank you, Colonel. This is beautiful. Thank you. Thank you all very much. This is wonderful." Obadiah said, shaking Rhodes' hand and taking the trophy as the applause died down, "Well, I'm not Tony Stark." Que laughter, "But if I were Tony, I would tell you how honored I feel and what a joy it is to receive this very prestigious award. Tony, you know…The best thing about Tony is also the worst thing. He's always working."

Olive rolled her eyes and clapped at Obadiah's acceptance speech, giving him a half-hearted smile as he sat down. They finished up the closing ceremonies everyone stood to leave. Obadiah and Olive waited a few minutes for the crowd to dissipate and for Rhodey to join them before standing themselves. Olive was the first to stand, adjusting her long black dress before leaning towards Obadiah, "Nice save. Seems you've had a lot of practice."

Obadiah stood and gave her a hard smile, "It's not my first rodeo, Ms. Bexley."

"I know. I'm about to go find him and have a word with him." She sighed and gathered her belongings but Rhodey stopped her.

"I'll talk to him. You look exhausted, and you've got an early flight in the morning. Go get some rest."

She smiled and gave him her thanks, kissing him and Obadiah both on the cheek and bidding them a good night. She headed straight to her room, slipping out of her dress and into some shorts and a tee shirt, pulling her long auburn hair up on top of her head and crawling under the covers of her expensive hotel room bed. Her face was still made up and nothing was packed, but she didn't care. She was ready for the best sleep of her life. If only she'd known that was going to be the last good sleep she would get for a long time.

 **A/N: Hello! I've been gone for a long while, and I'm slowly working my way back into writing. This is something that's been on my mind for a while, and I've been toying with the idea for a long time. Hope you enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: Iron Man and all Marvel mentions belong to The Walt Disney Company as part of he Marvel Franchise.**


	2. Chapter 2

"I'm going to murder him."

Olive stood at the cabin door of Tony's private plane, phone in hand, furiously typing away a text to Pepper Potts, Tony's personal secretary and her best friend. And right now Pepper was playing the secretary, babysitter, and best friend all at once, allowing Olive to rant about how irritated she was that they should have been in the air three hours ago and Tony was a no call, no show, and nowhere to be found. She made an aggravated noise, getting more pissed off the more she typed about it and decided to simply call Pepper and brought the phone to her ear, hoping that she would know where Tony was. Colonel Rhodes stood beside her, just as frustrated, tapping his fingers on the railing of the stairs. The pilot came out, asking for the millionth time when they were going to take off, but once again, Rhodes had no answer for him. The pilot shook his head and went back to his cabin to wait just as Pepper answered Olive's call. Rhodes watched her facial expressions, unable to hear the other end of the conversation.

 _"_ _No, he hasn't left yet."_ Pepper told Olive. Olive's jaw dropped and she rolled her eyes.

"You've got to be kidding me."

 _"_ _Nope. I just got rid of last night's girl and I'm heading down to the lab now."_ Olive could hear loud music coming from Pepper's end, getting louder as she got closer to Tony's lab.

"We're supposed to be on the other side of the world by now."

 _"_ _I know, I know."_ The music stopped, signaling that Pepper had inputted her code to enter the lab and turned off Tony's music. He wasn't going to be happy about that, _"_ _I'm gonna try again. I'll keep you posted."_

"Wait, Pep-!"

Olive closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm her poor, over-worked nerves, reminding herself how much she loved her job. She loved her field, and spent several years in school for this sort of thing, and she was nothing less than ecstatic when she was offered the position of head of public relations for THE Tony Stark. She loved her co-workers, especially Pepper. The two of them were the closest to Tony, besides his body guard, Happy, and Olive felt she was very lucky to be as close as she was to someone she had to work with and be with most of the week. Seeing as the two were constantly working for and with Tony, she and Pepper became really close, really fast. And to be fair, neither of them had time to make any other friends with both of them always working. The two of them had become somewhat famous, with the media portraying them as the people actually running Stark Industries. Olive didn't really believe that; maybe it was true for Pepper, she was good at that sort of thing, but Olive felt she was more of an over glorified babysitter.

An hour later Tony's car finally sped into the parking lot where the jet was parked and waiting for him, Happy right on his bumper. His tires screeched as he came to a sudden halt and he hopped out of the car as Happy pulled up beside him, that stupid shit-eating grin on his face made Olive's insides boil.

"You're good." Tony called to Happy, "I thought I lost you back there."

"You did, sir. I had to cut across Mulholland." Happy went around to the trunk and pulled Tony's bags out, following the billionaire towards a very angry looking Olive and Rhodes. Olive liked Happy. He was kind, and hardworking, and he was just one of those people that gave you a good feeling when he stepped into a room. She would give this to Tony, he may not treat anyone with any respect but no matter how much he pushed Happy, he was never unkind to him. He didn't try to push his buttons or piss him off, not unlike herself, Pepper, and Rhodey. She felt as if it was his life's goal to piss all of them off.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Rhodes called.

"What?" Tony replied.

"Three hours, Tony." Olive scolded.

"I got caught doing a piece for _Vanity Fair_."

"Do you really expect me to believe that?" Olive started but Tony ushered her into the plane.

"For three hours. For three hours you got us standing here." Rhodes said.

"Waiting on you now." Tony called over his shoulder. "Wheels up! Rock and roll!"

* * *

"What you reading, platypus?"

They were finally on their way to Afghanistan and the ride so far had been fairly quiet. Rhodey had some paperwork he was going through and Olive had her planner and phone out, both of them enjoying the silence for once. But Olive should've known that wasn't going to last long with Tony around. He was observing Rhodey with a bored, mild interest as he fidgeted in his seat. Rhodey glanced up at him and turned a page in his reading material, giving a short reply that basically told Tony it was none of his business and he was still mad for making them wait on him.

"Come on, sour patch." Tony prompted, "Don't be mad."

"I told you, I'm not mad. I'm indifferent, okay?"

"I said I was sorry."

"You don't need to apologize to me. I'm your man. I'm just indifferent right now. You don't respect yourself, so I know you don't respect me."

"I respect you."

"I'm just your babysitter. So, when you need your diaper changed, let me know and I'll get you a bottle, okay?"

"No, I heard Olive was my babysitter. Read it in a magazine the other day." Tony took the hot towel that was offered to him by the flight attendant, grinning over at his PR rep. She was buried in her phone screen, furiously typing away and purposefully ignoring him.

"Then, really, it's her you need to be apologizing to, not me." Rhodes replied, "She's the one that has to put up with you basically 24/7."

"She's used to it. She'll get over it. I bet she's already over it, aren't you Ms. Bexley?"

"Not yet." She didn't even look up from her phone.

"Hey!" Tony exclaimed, changing the subject, "Heat up the sake, will you?"

Olive sighed, rolling her eyes and finally looking over at the boys from across the aisle, "Tony. We're working."

"You can't have sashimi without sake."

"You are constitutionally incapable of being responsible, you know that?" Rhodey commented.

"It would be irresponsible not to drink." Tony countered, "I'm just talking about a nightcap."

The flight attendant approached the boys with a small tray, offering them the Asian alcoholic beverage with a smile to which Tony accepted for the both of them.

"No." Rhodey said, "I'm not drinking. I don't want any."

But it was no use. Over the next couple of hours Olive sat and watched the two of them get more and more drunk as the flight progressed. Eventually, Tony had the cabin lights turned off and strobe lights turned on, and Olive was not surprised to find that Tony had all the flight attendants take pole dancing classes so he would have some sort of entertainment on long flights. Olive rolled her eyes and took her one glass of wine to the cabin with the pilot, closing and locking the cabin door behind her.

"How much longer?" she sighed, taking the empty co-pilot seat next to him.

"You might as well get comfortable. There's still at least twelve more hours."

She sighed, inwardly admitting to herself that she wished she was as drunk as Tony and Rhodes before downing the rest of her drink and sneaking off to another part of the plane to find a comfortable place to lay down and sleep for the remainder of the flight.


	3. Chapter 3

"Alright, after this we've got to get you back to Malibu for your meeting with the board." Olive was typing things out on her phone, marking things down in Tony's calendar while she walked him to his set to give his weapons demonstration. He looked down at her as they walked and without saying a word, snatched the phone from her hands. She protested and tried to grab it back with no luck, feeling like a little kid in a school yard trying to get her phone where Tony held it up too high for her to reach.

"How are your eyes? They've got to be awful after looking at this screen all day."

"Well, it is the job that _you_ gave me, Mr. Stark."

"Well, you need a vacation."

Olive's mouth dropped wide open as he tossed the phone into a glass of water sitting on a table nearby, just before approaching the setup where he was to give his speech. She pulled the phone back out as fast as she could, hoping to save it but it was no use. It wouldn't even turn on. Her shoulders slumped and she glared daggers at him as he adjusted his suit and smirked at her with a wink before stepping up to the front of the crowd to begin his presentation. Rhodes joined her to watch, and all she could do was smile and shake her head.

"Did he prepare this presentation at all?" Rhodes asked her.

Olive chuckled, "Tony Stark? Prepared? Since when?"

"Is it better to be feared or respected?" Tony started, causing a hush to come over the crowd in front of him, including Olive and Rhodes, "I say, is it too much to ask for both? With that in mind, I humbly present the crown jewel of Stark Industries' Freedom Line. The first missile system to incorporate our proprietary repulsor technology. They say the best weapon is one you never have to fire. I respectfully disagree. I prefer the weapon you only have to fire once. That's how Dad did it. That's how America does it. And it's worked out pretty well so far. Find an excuse to let one of these off the chain, and I personally guarantee you the bad guys won't even want to come out of their caves."

He cued the demonstration and everyone turned their attention to the new weapon. There were already coordinates preset so that it would land where there was no one in sight and after a few seconds, it took off, putting off a remarkable display of explosions and complete destruction. Tony waited a few moments, timing it perfectly before speaking again, "For your consideration, the Jericho."

Where the missile landed several miles behind him, he held out his arms in presentation, the blast reaching the crowd, blowing off their hats and almost knocking Tony over. When the stir settled down applause followed and Tony stepped down from the spotlight, starting for one of the trunks full of alcohol and making a sarcastic comment about offering a box with every purchase. He toasted to peace and Olive rolled her eyes, jogging to catch up with him.

"Shouldn't you be sweeping me off my feet to some fancy meeting or press conference or something?" he remarked.

"I dunno. My phone has some water damage." She replied smugly, "And I thought I heard someone say I was on vacation."

Tony smirked and peered at her out of the corner of his eye, sliding his phone open when it started ringing. Obadiah's face showed up on the screen.

"Obie, what are you doing up?" Tony said, handing his drink to Olive.

 _"_ _I couldn't sleep till I found out how it went. How'd it go?"_ Obadiah explained. It was the middle of the night back in Malibu and he was lying in bed without a shirt, obviously ready to get some sleep but wanting to make sure things were okay with Tony and the company, just like he always did.

"It went great. Looks like it's gonna be an early Christmas."

 _"_ _Hey! Way to go, my boy! I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"_

"Why aren't you wearing those pajamas I got you?"

 _"_ _Good night, Tony."_

Tony closed his phone screen and slid into the Humvee that would take him back to his plane, closing the door before Olive could get in with him. She protested just as Rhodey joined them.

"I'm sorry, this is the 'fun-vee.'" Tony toyed, "The 'hum-drum-vee' is back there."

Olive looked at him, rolled her eyes and started back for the other vehicle. Rhodey simply shook his head, "Nice job."

The Humvee took off and Rhodey jogged back to the vehicle where one of the other soldiers helped Olive into her seat and he climbed in after her, closing the door just as they took off. It was quiet for a minute and Rhodey watched Olive out of the corner of his eye. She no longer had her phone, so she couldn't get any work done and was forced to sit and enjoy the scenery. He chuckled and shook his head.

"Why do we put up with him?" he said. Olive smirked, but didn't say anything at first, so he continued, "I mean, he has absolutely no respect for us at all. Don't get me wrong, he'll have your back in a heartbeat, but still, just no respect."

"Because he wouldn't even be able to tie his own shoes without us." Olive mumbled. Rhodey looked at her and she had the biggest grin on her face, her eyes portraying nothing but complete adoration for the man. He thought about how she didn't have anyone but Tony and Pepper, her entire life revolved around this man and this company. Tony may treat them with little to no respect, but she had all the respect in the world for him, even if he did piss her off most of the time.

"I've never met anyone as smart and passionate about their work as Mr. Stark, but bless him, poor Tony wouldn't know how to brush his teeth without us." She added. Rhodey considered her words and he had to admit he agreed with her. But a scoff from his mouth caught her attention and he waved his hands to apologize.

"Sorry, no, I completely agree. But to be fair, he'd probably build a couple dozen machines to do all that work for him."

Olive smiled, and she was about to reply with a sarcastic comment but a loud explosion stopped her. The Humvee came to a screeching halt and Rhodey put his arm out in front of her to stop her from injuring herself. All the soldiers started shouting and grabbing hold of their weapons, jumping out of the vehicle only to be shot down as soon as their boots hit the sand. Olive gasped, covering her mouth in shock.

"Get down!" Rhodey pushed her head down, shouting orders at the few still alive and trying to get a handle on the situation. He started for the door to get out and Olive screamed at him, begging him to not go out there and he stopped. He grabbed her face in an attempt to comfort her, "Stay put, I'll be right back."

He slammed the door shut and Olive was suddenly alone, and at first she felt nothing but blinding fear. She worked in PR, she didn't know the first thing about survival or guns. She barely knew anything about her own car. She could feel the panic rise in her throat and the tears started to build up in her eyes, and then she thought about Tony and wondered if he was alive; or maybe if that explosion was his Humvee. She knew she probably should listen to Rhodey and stay where she was, but she couldn't sit there and wonder if Tony was okay. She took a deep breath and slipped out of the Humvee, staying low for a moment and observing her surroundings. There were bodies everywhere, and a lot of shouting and gunshots, explosions every few seconds. Her heart was pounding and her whole body shook with fear. She could feel tears streaming down her face but she tried not to let that stop her, looking around frantically for Tony's car. At first there was so much smoke and sand she was afraid she'd never find it, but then she saw him. She watched him jump out of the car and look around. It took her a moment to find her voice, but just as Tony took off for cover she called out for him, but there was no way he could hear her. She saw him dive behind a huge rock, just missing several shots being fired at him. She suddenly didn't care what was happening around her, she just knew she had to get to him and she kicked off her heels and made a break for it, running as fast as she could. The sand hindered her speed and made her muscles work ten times harder but she fought it, getting to him just as a large missile landed right next to him. She was only a few feet away, and he had his phone in his hand, assumingly calling for help, but he stopped at the sight of a very familiar logo on the side of the weapon. Olive's heart dropped. This was not happening.

"Tony!" she started for him and he looked up at his name. There was a split second where her brain registered a bit of surprise when the first thing he did was hold out his hand to her, but she had no time to react. She pulled him up off the ground and tried to pull them both away from the bomb, but it was too late. It detonated and threw them both back several feet into the sand. After a moment Olive caught her breath back, taking in a deep, painful gulp of air. That's all she could feel, pain. Pain everywhere as she tried to determine if she was dead or dying. She turned to look at Tony as the blood started pooling on her chest and stomach. He was pulling at his shirt, and with one look at her, he reached out to her, but the pain was so great, she lost consciousness before she could reach for him.

* * *

Tony could only remember bits and pieces of what happened when he woke up. Pain, panic, yelling, dizziness, darkness, languages he didn't understand, the smell of metal he assumed was blood. When he did finally wake, the first thing he did was figure out whether he was alive or dead. When he tried to move his legs and fingers and decided they were working properly, he noticed something in his nose that suddenly made it uncomfortable to breathe right. He reached for his face, yanking the tape from his nose and pulling at the tube till he was free, his face distorting in discomfort. He turned his head to the side and saw what he could assume was a cup of water in the darkness and suddenly realized how thirsty he was. Testing his motor skills, he reached for the cup on the table, but it was no use. His depth perception was completely out of whack and he knocked the cup to the floor. That's when he saw him. There was a man, shaving his face in a tiny, dirt covered mirror a few feet away. Unsure if he was friend or foe, Tony tried very quietly to roll over, but he was stopped by several cords and wires pulling at his chest, moving whatever he was attached to and making a loud scrapping noise, grabbing the attention of the man across the room. Tony cursed under his breath.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The man said, looking at him through the mirror. Tony furrowed his eyebrows and turned over, suddenly noticing the wires that were attached to a car battery were also attached to his chest. Panic set in as he felt a hard chunk of metal settled right under his collar bone and he pulled the bandages from his chest, revealing a circular metal piece implanted in his chest. His skin around it was red and irritated, deciding whether or not to accept the implant. He felt his pulse race and his breathing quicken as fear and panic started to take over, his mind running rampant with questions and concerns and blinding fear. He followed the wires to the battery again and sat up, trying to ignore the pain in his abs whenever he moved and the man stopped him, "Don't move too much, I don't want you to pull her wires out."

Tony furrowed his brow but then his eyes grew wide, praying to a god he didn't even believe in that it wasn't who he thought it was lying on another cot behind him. Part of him was afraid to turn around, scared to see her lying there unconscious, but he whipped his head around and threw his legs over his cot, kneeling down next to her. She hadn't come to yet, but she was breathing evenly with the same tube coming out of her nose. Tony's hands hovered over her, scared that his touch might make it worse but wanting to help. He felt a strange burning sensation in his heart and stomach, unable to place the exact feeling with so many running through his veins and making his blood boil and run cold at the same time. He let his fingers trace the circle that protruded from the bandages that covered Olive's chest, feeling the hard metal of the magnet that seemed to match his own and he looked between her and the man watching them, "What the hell did you do to us?"

"What I did? What I did is to save your lives." He chuckled. His Middle Eastern accent hinted at his origins through in his very well spoken English. Tony didn't trust him, but let him speak, "I removed all the shrapnel I could, but there's a lot left, and it's headed into your atrial septum. Here, want to see? I have a souvenir. Take a look."

He picked up a small jar and shook it, looking at the tiny pieces of metal in it and tossing at Tony, who caught it with quick reflexes and eyed him up and down. Gripping the jar, he glanced down at the metal in his chest and the man handed him a mirror before speaking again, "I've seen many wounds like that in my village. We call them the walking dead, because it takes about a week for the barbs to reach the vital organs."

"What is this?" Tony said.

"That is an electromagnet, hooked up to a car battery, and it's keeping the shrapnel from entering your heart, and your friend's heart as well."

Tony looked back at Olive; she had so many more bandages around her chest and waist than he did and his guilt was starting to make itself apparent. He was starting to put this huge puzzle together, making since of the situation they'd been put in, but he still had so many unanswered questions. Amidst all that he had a thought that made his blood run cold again.

"She made me wear it." He mumbled.

"What was that?" the man said, leaning in to hear him.

"She made me wear the vest, the bullet proof one." He repeated, "I didn't want to, I thought it was stupid and unnecessary, but she made me wear it anyway."

"Well then you need to worship the ground she walks on if she wakes up. That jacket quite possibly saved your life."

"If?"

"Well, she wasn't wearing the vest. She got a lot more shrapnel in her chest than you did. Like I said, I got most of it, but to say she was lucky is an understatement. She's holding steady, though. However, I should mention that you're both hooked up to the same battery seeing as we could only salvage one, and I'm not sure how much power that gives to each of you."

Tony sighed, looking down at the metal in his chest that matched hers and zipped up the jacket they had given him. He glanced back over at the man and suddenly noticed the camera in the far corner, to which the other guy followed his gaze and chuckled.

"That's right. Smile." He said, though Tony was not in the mood to smile. He had so many emotions he didn't know what to do with. He leaned back on his knees, watching Olive's chest rise and fall with each breath until his Cave-Mate broke the silence again, "We met once, you know, at a technical conference in Bern."

"I don't remember." Tony didn't take his eyes off of Olive, his mind working a mile a minute to figure out what the hell they were going to do.

"No, you wouldn't. If I had been that drunk, I wouldn't have been able to stand, much less give a lecture on integrated circuits."

"Where are we?" Tony wasn't interested in reliving the past. But before he could get his question answered, the peep hole in the big metal door at the other side of the cave slid open, making them both jump. Someone on the other side was shouting in a language Tony didn't understand and his Cave-Mate was suddenly in a much different, more demanding mood. He was yelling at him in a loud whisper, demanding that he stand up and Tony took one last glance at Olive before doing as he was told. His Cave-Mate took his elbow and stood next to him, and Tony made a sudden realization that he was a prisoner, too.

"Just do as I do." He said, "Put your hands up."

Tony eyed him skeptically, but did as he was told, placing his hands behind his head, careful of the wires that connected him to Olive as three men walked in carrying large guns. One look at them and he started to panic.

"Those are my guns." He stammered, "How did they get my guns?"

"Do you understand me? Do as I do."

Tony kept his mouth shut, watching as a huge group of men came flooding in their cave prison, all of them carrying weapons with his name on them. A larger man with an eerily pleasant smile pushed through the crowd, speaking to them in the same language that Tony couldn't understand and holding a piece of paper that Tony couldn't make out. He waited for him to stop speaking so his Cave-Mate could translate.

"He says, 'Welcome, Tony Stark, the most famous mass murderer in the history of America.' He is honored."

The large man held out a photo for them to see, speaking again, but again Tony had no idea what he was saying and he couldn't make out the photo in the dark room. He looked towards his Cave-Mate.

"He wants you to build the missile." He explained, "The Jericho missile that you demonstrated. This one."

He was handed the photo for Tony to see and he glanced down at, but he didn't need the photo. He knew exactly what they were talking about and what they wanted. And there was no way he was giving it to them.

"I refuse."

There was a moment, just one fleeting moment of silence before a hectic chaos ensued. The men started grabbing for Tony, yanking him towards a small pool on the other side of the room, shouting and causing him as much pain and harm as the could manage, but he was still attached to the car battery, and therefore attached to the still unconscious Olive. Tony protested, kicking and hollering, trying to keep from pulling at the wires in his chest and Olive's, but the more he struggled, the harder they pulled, causing immense pain that shot through his body, initiating from his chest. His Cave Mate managed to get to Olive, grabbing the battery and attempting to keep the wires from getting tangled or pulled out from the both of them. Tony continued to fight, keeping an eye on their "doctor" as he tried to keep Olive still and shouting in the same language as their captures, but they weren't listening. All of the commotion and yelling and pulling at her chest eventually did wake her up, but it was not pretty. Tony watched her eyes pop open in a panic as she sucked in a huge, gaping, painful breath. She started screaming, clutching her chest where the men were dragging Tony away from her, pulling at the contraption that was keeping the two of them alive and connected. She was basically forced out of bed, their doctor managing to pull her breathing tube from her nose as carefully as he could before she got too far away. Tony felt the heat of his guilt and anger grow bigger and bigger the harder he fought and the more he watched Olive struggle to understand what was happening. She was looking around frantically, groping at her chest and trying to catch her breath. She was shaking and crying and screaming and their doctor went to her, but she backed away from him as far as she could before the wires connecting her to Tony stopped her and she yelped in pain, as did he, both of them still tremendously sore from their procedure and their eyes locked, panic obviously spreading over the both of them just before their captures dunked Tony's head under the water and held him there. He could vaguely make out Olive's terrified screams and when he was pulled out again he could just make out the Doctor holding her back through the water dripping in his eyes and then they dunked him again. This went on for what felt like hours, but was probably only several agonizing minutes.

When they decided he'd been punished enough they threw him on the ground, coughing and hacking up all the water in his lungs. Olive started for him but one of them grabbed her and forced all three of them to their feet, covering their heads with burlap sacks and shoving their car battery into Tony's hands, leading them through several long passages and turns and out of their prison cave and into the harsh desert sun. They ripped the sacks off their heads without a warning, shocking their eyes so that they were blinded for a moment. When they hesitated from blindness, one of them smacked the back of their heads and yelled at them in his language. They continued on, stopping in front of a tent full of boxes and guns and missiles, all with the Stark Industries logo on them. Tony and Olive were shocked and speechless. How on earth did this happen?"

"He wants to know what you think." Their doctor spoke, bringing them out of their stupor. Tony looked at him.

"I think you got a lot of my weapons."

"He says they have everything you need to build the Jericho missile." Their doctor translated, "He wants you to make the list of materials. He says for you to start working immediately, and when you're done, he will set you both free."

Their capture smiled when he finished talking, holding out his hand for Tony to shake, which Tony took reluctantly, grimacing, "No, he won't."

"No, he won't." The doctor agreed. Their capture let go of Tony's hand and as soon as he let it fall back to his side he felt someone else grab it instead. Looking over his shoulder, he found Olive pressed up against his side, gripping his hand in fear. He didn't hesitate to wrap his fingers around hers. Now, it was just the two of them; all they had now were each other, and he would make sure they both made it home alive.


	4. Chapter 4

"I'm sure they're looking for you two, Stark. But they will never find you in these mountains."

The three of them were back in their prison cave. It was late and the air had grown cold; even with the fire they were still forced to layer up with what little clothes they were provided. Tony sat on one of the cots with Olive asleep in his lap. She was remarkably calm and terrifyingly quiet when they were locked back in the cave, but Tony was sure it was the shock of the situation. She had asked a few questions, mostly about the devices in their chests and where they were, all with a very quiet voice and absolutely no emotion in her eyes. Then she simply laid down in Tony's lap and closed her eyes. This was not like her, Tony knew. She did a lot for him out there in their world and she worked hard. He admired her work, always had, but he pushed her buttons just like he did with everyone else. They were close, but not like she was with Pepper, but none of that seemed to matter now. They were in this together and both of them were looking to each other for the only piece of home, of comfort they had in this sea of unfamiliarity. So when Olive's response to the information she was given was to cuddle up to him, Tony didn't mind. He wouldn't admit how scared he was, how much all of this freaked him out, but he was honestly glad to have her with him. She was the one who always accompanied him on his business trips; she kept him on track and worked her butt off to cover for him when he decided he wanted to play hookie for some event or award ceremony or whatever. She always had his back, no matter how much he pissed her off. For him, that was something that was hard to find. Everyone wanted to be friends of him because of his name, because of what he could do for them. She and Pepper, and even Happy and Rhodey, those were the people he felt most comfortable around. So after everything she'd done for him he let her fall asleep in his lap. She was out in minutes, and Tony sat there staring at the fire that the Doctor started, his arms resting on Olive's waist, playing with the hem of her shirt. He was only half listening to the Doctor talk.

"Look, what you just saw," he was saying, "that is your legacy, Stark. Your life's work, in the hands of those murderers. Is that how you want to go out? Is this the last act of defiance of the great Tony Stark? Or are you going to do something about it?"

"Why should I do anything?" Tony finally said, "They're going to kill me, you, Olive, either way. And if they don't, Olive and I will probably be dead in a week."

"Well, then, this is a very important week for you, isn't it?"

Tony was quiet. The Doctor sighed.

"What about for Olive? Huh? This could be her last week on earth, too. Is this how you want her last week to be?"

Tony looked down at her sleeping figure, then at the car battery that they had sat in the floor in front of them, the one thing that would keep one of them alive for what was hopefully several weeks. Then an idea sparked in his head, something that might could keep them both alive long enough for him to them out of there.

"How long do you think that battery would last if it was only hooked to one of us?" he said.

"Um, I mean, a lot longer than it being hooked up to the both of you. Why?"

Tony didn't respond at first, he simply sat up a little straighter and carefully got out from under Olive, gently lying her head down where he had been sitting and covered her up. He looked up at their roommate with a smirk, "Like you said, it's an important week. Better get some sleep, then, huh?"

* * *

The next morning, or what he felt like was morning, Tony woke and sat up from his cot. It was so dark in that cave and there was absolutely no sunlight, he had no idea what time it actually was. His friend was across the room, still asleep in his own cot, and when Tony went to move his arm he found that he had gotten himself tangled in the wires that attached him to the battery. He sighed and analyzed the wires, still with a sense of guilt and sadness. Olive's sleeping form lay on the other side of the table, their battery the only thing between them. She was calm and sleeping soundly, something Tony was surprised to find soothed him. Hearing the panic in her voice when she was forced out of her coma the day before nearly killed him. He knew that he had a bad reputation, and that it seemed like he didn't respect people, even his closest friends, but he did. He had a deep, passionate love for those closest to him. It was he who had the problem; a problem getting close to people. He had been alone most of his life, that's all he knew and that's how he liked it. But he would admit to no one that he cared very much for who he considered close to him. Olive rolled over in her sleep and the thin blanket she had slid off of her shoulder, revealing the magnet in her chest. Tony looked at it then back at his, remembering what their Doctor had told him: how there was so much more shrapnel in her chest than his because he wore the vest. It killed him to think about it, but he also knew he had to do something about it. That battery wouldn't keep them both alive for long and he knew that. He already had a plan in order, but if he wanted to make it work he needed to get started as soon as possible. He started to sit up, ready to start fighting for himself and for Olive, even for their Doctor, but the wires stopped him. For a moment he forgot he was attached to Olive and he sighed. He really didn't want to wake her, but if they wanted to live long enough for them to get home, he needed to begin work immediately.

He slung his legs over to the other side of his cot so that he was facing hers and very quietly placed his hands on her shoulder. As soon as his hand made contact with her, her eyes shot open in a panic. She tried to sit up but he stopped her, shushing her and trying to calm her down. She was not handling the situation well, no matter how much she tried to hide it with her calmness last night, Tony knew she was lying. When she realized who he was she stopped fighting and sat still, taking deep breathes to calm herself. There were tear stains on her cheeks already and Tony continued to shush her.

"It's okay, you're fine, it's just me." He said. She glanced around, expecting those group of men to be there with them or something bad to have happened and she furrowed her brow when she realized it was quiet, even their roommate was still asleep. She looked to Tony, asking a silent question and he took a deep breath, collecting his thoughts before speaking. He knew that he pissed her off 99% of the time, but she cared for him. She'd had his back many times out there in their world of gossip and rumors that they lived in. If they wanted to get back there they were going to have to work together on this, "Do you trust me?"

Olive looked at him as if he'd grown another head, "Of course I do. Why on earth would you think I didn't?"

He was surprised by her answer but tried not to let it phase him, "Because this," he placed his hand on the car battery that connected them, "is not going to keep both of us alive for very long. At least not both of us together."

"Oh."

Tony could tell she was trying to put the pieces together, but he stopped her before she came to any drastic conclusions, "But I've got a plan. You're gonna think I'm crazy, but we're going to need to work together on this to make this work."

She looked at him and he could see the fear in her eyes. She was not a scientist or an engineer, she didn't graduate early from MIT or anything remotely close, but she wanted to trust him and to help him. With that fear she also had a sense of determination. She was hot-headed, stubborn, and determined. A lot like him in a lot of ways, and he was starting to notice that. A smirk grew on her face and she started nodding her head slowly, like she was giving herself a silent pep talk. He grinned and got to his feet, holding out his hand to her which she took without hesitation as he picked up their car battery and led her to a table nearby with some thin pieces of paper on it. With the car battery sitting between them, they took a seat and got to work on a very elaborate escape plan. An escape plan that would take them home, together.

* * *

They worked for several hours, undermining every single detail of their plan before their group of captures came in began yelling at them, waking up their Doctor. They were having all of Tony's weapons brought in and the two of them jumped up, making sure no one could see exactly what they were working on. The larger man from the day before came over, yelling at them in that same language that neither of them understood and the Doctor finally came over to join them, translating so that they could understand. He was actually asking what kinds of tools and things Tony would need to build the missile and he and Olive exchanged a look, both of them smiling as he handed her their battery and started rattling off a list of orders and tools to their roommate for him to tell their capture.

A few hours later, the three of them were left along with all of the weapons that their captures had collected from who knows where, all of the donning the all too familiar Stark Industries logo on them. The three of them were all sitting at a lit table, Olive and the Doctor sat watching Tony take apart one of the missiles they'd been given in complete silence. Tony glanced up at them, lingering on their cave-mate before going back to his work, "How many languages do you speak?"

"A lot." He replied, "But apparently, not enough for this place. They speak Arabic, Urdu, Dari, Pashto, Mongolian, Farsi, Russian."

Olive made a face, "Who are these people?"

"They are your loyal customers. They call themselves the Ten Rings."

Tony pulled out a long piece of the weapons innards and set in on the table, taking in the information he was being given. He looked at Olive and gestured for her to follow and she grabbed the battery and trotted behind him, getting down on her knees in front of a huge jet missile. Their Doctor followed and watched the two of them work for a moment, with Tony mumbling directions to Olive and her following without a complaint. The Doctor squatted down next to them and Olive looked up at him with a kind, but tired face and he felt for her. She was not made for this. None of them were and he sucked in a breath, "You know, we might be more productive if you include me in the planning process."

"Yeah?" Tony pounded on the front of the missile and knocked the outer shell off, revealing all of the mechanics inside. He reached in and pulled out a small cylinder and gestured for Olive to follow once more. The Doctor trailed behind them, joining them once again at the lit table where Tony sat with a small pair of tweezers, carefully pulling a small piece of metal out of the piece of the missile he'd just retrieved. Once he got what he needed, he tossed the rest over his shoulder, shattering it on the hard rock floor behind him.

"What is that?" the Doctor asked. Tony held it up for all three of them to see.

"That's palladium, 0.15 grams. We need at least 1.6, so why don't you go break down the other 11?"

The man thinned his lips and nodded, already getting a feel of how this operation was going to work. Olive couldn't go very far from Tony so he would be doing a lot of the so called heavy lifting while she would be working very close with Tony, basically being an extra pair of hands for him, much like his machine's at home; something to bounce ideas off of. She may not have studied any kind of engineering or science, but she was a good student and she took directions well and asked a lot of questions, keeping Tony on his toes.

They lost track of how many days it took them to finish their project, pulling apart all kinds of weapons and machinery and Olive learned more than she ever thought she would about wielding and science and physics. She thought her brain might explode from all the information. Once they finally got enough palladium they melted it down and poured it into a circular mold that Tony had hand made out of cast iron. The process was the most stressful situation Olive had ever been in, and she'd been nearly blown up, kidnapped, and held hostage for who knows how long. The Doctor held the metal over the fire until it was a shiny, silver liquid and Tony watched over his shoulder to supervise, fidgeting nervously.

"Careful, we only get one shot at this." He reminded him.

"Relax." The Doctor soothed, walking slowly and steadily towards their worktable, "I have steady hands. Why do you think the two of you are still alive?"

Tony looked back at Olive standing as far away as she could, gripping their car battery and staying out of the way. She shrugged her shoulders as if to say, 'he's not wrong' and they both turned their attention back to the task at hand. The Doctor poured the liquid into the mold perfectly and they all seemed to let out a held breath, relaxing their tense muscles as a reward for their hard work even though they had so much further to go.

"What do we call you?" Tony said.

"My name is Yinsen."

"Yinsen. I think you know me. This is Olive. It's nice to meet you."

Yinsen chuckled, looking at Olive and mirroring her confused face with a smile, "Nice to meet you, too."

Olive felt like it took ages for the metal to be ready. In the meantime, they worked on other pieces of the project, having it finished just in time for the palladium to finish. The rest was really up to Tony now. He worked well into the night for days, even moving Olive's cot closer to his work station so she could sleep and he could work. When he finished, he and Yinsen were the only two awake and he sat staring at the little blue circle glowing in front of him. Yinsen came to sit beside him and made a face.

"That doesn't look like a Jericho missile." He said.

"That's because it's a miniaturized arc reactor." Tony said, not taking his eyes off of it, "I got a big one powering my factory at home. It should keep the shrapnel out of my heart."

Yinsen looked at him, "What about Olive?"

Tony looked at her sleeping form next to him, "Without it being connected to both of us that battery should keep her alive longer. And when I get us home, I'll have more tools to make her one of these."

Yinsen nodded, "But what could it generate?"

"If my math is right, and it always is, three gigajoules per second."

"That could run your heart for 50 lifetimes."

"Yeah. Or something big for 15 minutes."

"What are you talking about?"

Tony looked at him and gestured with his head, leaning down to wake Olive. She rolled over and looked at him with weary eyes, but the look he gave her told her that it was go-time and she sat up without hesitation. She noticed the arc reactor on the table and stopped to admire it before letting the smile spread across her face. She hopped up and Tony had to grab the battery and catch up to her before she took off, gathering up all the design prints on her way to one of the other work tables on the other side of the cave. She rearranged them and looked back at Yinsen with the biggest smile.

"This is our ticket out of here." Tony said.

"What is it?" Yinsen cocked his head to the side but all he could see were different parts to what he thought was the Jericho missile. Tony and Olive looked at each other with triumphant smiles and Olive leaned down on the papers, "Flatten them out and look."

She pressed her hands down in the middle and spread them apart, revealing the designs for a large suit of armor a with muilti-weapon functionality. They had done the blueprints in parts on separate sheets so that the Ten Rings couldn't find out their escape plan. Olive looked up at Yinsen and noticed the hint of a smile playing on this lips. He looked over the blueprints, obviously impressed, and nodded at Tony, "You designed this?"

"We both did." Tony said, pulling Olive into his side like a proud teacher. She smiled up at him and they all took in the moment. They were going to get out of there, Olive could feel it in her bones. They still had a lot of work ahead of them, but they were already one step closer with their arc reactor power source. She took a quick deep breath and patted Tony's chest.

"Come on, let's get you fitted for your new battery." She said.

They returned to the arc reactor and Tony settled into Olive's bed while Yinsen prepared the reactor. Tony instructed Olive on how to detach him from the car battery, but just before she removed the last piece Tony grabbed her wrist to stop her. She looked at him with confusion and he was sure she thought she'd done something wrong. But she hadn't. She had done such a wonderful job with everything that he and Yinsen had thrown at her. Exactly like when she was first hired at his company, she jumped in head first and took everything they gave her without a complaint. He had the strange urge to tell her that, but Yinsen was waiting to install his new hardware and he slowly let go of Olive's wrist, officially detaching herself from him and moving out of the way so that Yinsen could do his part. Just as they predicted, it installed perfectly and worked like a charm. Tony sat up and examined their handiwork with a big smile. He stood and clasped Yinsen's hand in victory, happy that they'd managed a win in this horrible situation. He turned back to Olive and she was smiling at him, hugging the car battery still attached to her chest and gingerly holding the magnet they'd just removed from his. He gave her a look of sympathy and approached her, taking his old magnet and the battery out of her grip and setting them both on the table, silently removing his wires so that all was left were the wires keeping her alive. He would never show how horrible he felt. He wanted so badly to help her after everything she did to help him, but there was nothing he could do without more materials. He had promised himself when he devised their escape plan to get them both home and to keep her alive. She would not spend the rest of her life carrying a car battery around, especially considering the length of her life would shorten drastically if she stayed like that. He glanced over at her and she was tracing the circular magnet in her chest and staring at the battery. Tony placed his hand over hers, and in turn the magnet, and she looked up at him with a small smile.

"I'm going to get us home." He said, "And I promise to get you better."

She smiled and reluctantly slid her arms around his waist. He was shocked at first, unsure how to respond. In the many years they'd known each other they'd never had more contact than a professional handshake. A professional handshake for professional co-workers, or colleagues or whatever they were. It didn't matter, after this experience, they were both sure all of that would go out the window. He returned the gesture, resting his head on hers and hugging her frame with a tenderness he didn't think he'd ever shown anyone. He tried not to think about it too much.

After their small victory they all took the evening off. To be fair, none of them actually knew what time of day it was or how many days they'd been there, truthfully. But to them it felt like evening, so they took the time off. Their captures had given them a game board that Olive didn't understand the rules for and the boys sat down to play while she took some other blank pieces of paper they hadn't used and sat down to draw and watch them play. She hadn't done any kind of artwork since college, not having time once she graduated and jumped headfirst into the professional world, and felt maybe it was time for a few doodles. They all sat together under one of the only lights in the cave and fell into a mixture of comfortable silence and idle chatter.

"Good roll." Yinsen said.

"You still haven't told me where you're from." Tony replied.

"I'm from a small town called Gulmira. It's actually a nice place."

"Do you have a family, Yinsen?" Olive looked up from her drawing and smiled at him, to which he gladly returned.

"Yes, and I will see them when I leave here."

She smiled and returned to her work, unprepared for the next question, "What about you, Ms. Bexley?"

She didn't look up from her work, though her pencil strokes slowed and Tony was surprised to find that he was curious. She had never mentioned any family, though he also never thought to ask. She finally did look up and she had a soft look on her face, one that told Tony that there was a long story that she didn't much feel like getting into. Yinsen seemed to understand her answer and turned to Tony, "And you, Stark?"

He looked up at him and also shook his head, the ghost of a smile on his face at the thought of him settling down with a wife and kids. He didn't think anyone ever looked at him that way. He glanced at Olive and found her looking back at him, observing him with a knowing expression, or what he felt was a knowing expression. It made him think they had a lot more in common than he had anticipated. He turned back to Yinsen and shook his head.

"No?" Yinsen said. He sounded surprised, "So you're a man who has everything and nothing."

Tony gave a thin smile, as did Olive. The conversation moved on to much lighter topics and after a little while they all laid down to sleep. Though Tony laid down, he couldn't really sleep. This was the first night since they'd been captured to sleep without being attached to the car battery. He rolled over onto his side, being much more comfortable without all those wires hanging out of his chest, though he still had a hard time keeping his eyes closed. Thinking about not having any wires made him think of Olive. They'd left her cot a little ways away since they were no longer attached and could be more than a few feet apart, but watching her fidget and try and get comfortable made it hard to sleep. He was probably the only one in the world who knew how she felt right then. She was lying there with her eyes closed but she wasn't sleeping. Not well at least. He finally got up and moved his cot over beside hers and laid back down. That little bit of commotion woke her and she was surprised to find him that close. He wasn't facing her, but his cot was so close it was almost as if they were sleeping in the same bed. She smiled and rolled back over to get comfortable before falling into a deep sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning they all woke and got straight to work. There was no telling how much longer that car battery would last and they were sure the Ten Rings were starting to get suspicious. They had been there for months and still didn't have their missile built. They each had a job and started in on it, working for no more than an hour or two before they received visitors. They glanced around at each other and immediately stopped what they were working on, placing their hands on the back of their heads and keeping as quiet as possible. The leader of the Ten Rings made his appearance, looking right at Tony and telling him to relax. Tony hesitated, looking over at Yinsen for confirmation and the three of them let their arms fall to their sides. The Ten Rings' leader approached him and pulled on Tony's shirt to reveal the arc reactor and examine it. Glancing up at Tony as he spoke, "The bow and arrow once was the pinnacle of weapons technology."

He moved on to Olive, slowly and deliberately making himself as intimidating as possible. He pulled at the flannel-like shirt that hung on her body, comparing her magnet to Tony's reactor. Without any other women's clothes available to her, she'd kept her surgery bandages on to keep herself modest and threw on oversized shirt over herself with a pair of middle eastern style pants – the one piece of clothing they had provided for her. The leader looked her up and down with a smirk and she glared at him, feeling objectified, but too afraid of him to say anything. She felt her pulse race with nerves as he continued to speak, "It allowed the great Genghis Kahn to rule from the Pacific to the Ukraine. An empire twice the size of Alexander the Great and four time the size of the Roman Empire."

He let her be and she released a breath she didn't even know she was holding. He grabbed a couple of the design sheets she'd had setting next to her and her eyes flickered to Tony. He subtly shook his head.

"But today," he continued, "whoever holds the latest Stark weapons rules these lands. And soon, it will be my turn."

He turned and looked Tony up and down without a word for several agonizing seconds before he started speaking in his native tongue. Yinsen replied and Tony and Olive were forced to sit and listen to a conversation they didn't understand that was obviously about them. However the next thing they knew a couple of their captures had Yinsen on his knees.

"What're you doing?" Olive said, fear slipping into her voice but they ignored her, continuing their conversation in their native tongue. The Ten Rings' leader picked up a piece of hot metal and made his way towards Yinsen. When she realized what was happening, Olive started to panic. She flinched, starting for them, but her car battery stopped her from getting very far. She glanced back at it and cursed it under her breath, and she felt her breath quicken, "Wait, stop!"

"What does he want?" Tony asked but they were ignoring them. YInsen seemed to be repeating the same thing over and over again, with one word they did recognize: Jericho.

"What do you want? A delivery date?" Tony said. He started forward to stop them but their big audience stopped him, and in turn stopped their leader. He looked up at Tony with cautious eyes. Tony couldn't seem to look at him but he spoke the words that would save Yinsen's life: "I need him. Good assistant."

Their leader hesitated only a moment before dropping his weapon and letting Yinsen go, "You have till tomorrow to assemble my missile."

Their captures left and Olive picked up her battery and slid down her knees to meet Yinsen, checking him over for injuries. He assured her he was fine and they both looked up at Tony, who simply nodded in understanding.

"We've got some work to do."

* * *

Olive wasn't sure how many hours it took them to complete their project. All she knew is that she was exhausted, dirty, burned in several spots on her body, and so full of adrenaline that she didn't' even care. They finally had it finished and she started to help Tony get suited up immediately while Yinsen finished the programming. Olive taped Tony's hands, slid his arms into his wielding jacket, and helped him into his big leather gloves, then the neckpiece after that. Yinsen announced he was ready for him and Olive walked Tony back so they could lower his chest piece onto him, his arc reactor locking into place.

"Can you move?" Olive asked. Tony nodded in response and she tinkered with some of the adjustments behind him before stepping in front of him and out of Yinsen's way. She set her battery on the table and looked at Tony, "Say it again."

Tony looked her right in the eyes, "41 steps straight ahead. Then 16 steps, that's from the door, fork right, 33 steps, turn right."

"Good. Again." She commanded. But just before he started to speak again the metal peep hole slide open and one of the men started yelling their names.

"Say something." Tony said to Yinsen, "Say something back to him."

"He's speaking Hungarian. I don't know Hungarian!" Yinsen argued.

"Then speak something." Olive said in a harsh whisper. She was the only one they could see and the only one that could see them. Her eyes were wide like a deer in a headlights and Yinsen thought a moment before coming up with something. He hollered back at them and they stopped screaming. Tony looked over at Olive.

"Did they go away?" he asked, but her eyes just got wider.

"Uh-oh." She grabbed her battery and ducted behind their protective wall just as their homemade bomb went off, a booby trap triggered by the men trying to open the door.

"Holy shit." Olive muttered, breathing heavy and clutching the battery to her chest.

"How'd it work?" Tony asked.

She peeked around the corner over her shoulder, "Great. There's no more door."

"That's what I do."

"Yinsen, are you almost done?"

"Almost, let me finish this." He replied. They were starting to panic a little; Tony should have already been in the suit before their bomb went off.

"Initialize the power sequence." Tony told Olive, "Now!"

"Tell me how!" she threw the battery onto the table and leaned over the computer.

"Function 11. Tell me when you see a progress bar. It should be up right now."

"Yes, it's here. I've got it."

"Press Control 'I' and 'Enter.'"

"Got it."

Yinsen was working at warp speed to get Tony into the suit and Olive peeked around the corner at the now open tunnel that would lead them to their freedom, "They're coming!"

"Olive, listen to me." Tony said and she looked up at him with terror in her eyes, glancing over at the tunnel every other second, "Make sure the checkpoints are clear before you guys follow me out, okay?"

She nodded and Yinsen turned around to check the progress of the program, mumbling to himself. He turned back to Tony and Olive, "I'm gonna go buy you sometime"

"No, Yinsen, wait!" Olive called out to him, trying to stop him before he ran off but it was no use. He picked up an abandoned gun and disappeared down in the tunnels. That's when she really started to panic.

"No, no, no, Olive, stay with me." Tony tried to keep her calm, unable to do much in the suit with it still hooked up to their miniature crane, "Listen, the program is almost finished, you've got to help me finish getting into the suit."

There were tears streaming down her face and it took her a moment to refocus but she nodded, grabbing the drill and following his instructions before handing him his helmet. Once it was on she grabbed the drill and started tightening all the bolts into place; she wasn't saying a word, only following instructions. Just as soon as she was finished, a whirring sound filled the room and the lights flickered out, leaving the arc reactor as their only light source.

"Tony, what's happening?" Olive said. She felt the cold leather of Tony's gloved hand on her arm and she looked up at him. He put a finger to his lips and motioned for her to listen. The gunshots had stopped but she could hear footsteps heading their way. Tony pointed to one of the men lying on the ground; there was an abandoned gun next to him and he whispered for her to go get it. She hesitated for a split second before retrieving it and coming right back to stand by him. His mask was lifted so that she could see his face and he turned her to look at him.

"Do you know how to shoot?" his voice was low but stern and she shook her head frantically, "Okay, this is the safety and this is the trigger. Only point it at the bad guys, understand? Good. I need you to stay right behind me. And Olive?"

She was starting to get fidgety, continuously glancing over at the exposed tunnel exit, but she stopped and looked him in the eye when he said her name. He reached over and grabbed her car battery, helping to strap it to her back with the straps that they'd tied to it before putting both of his hands on her shoulders, "We're getting out of here."

About that time they heard someone enter the cave and Tony once again put his finger to his lips, gesturing for her to get behind him as he lowered his mask. She did as she was told and they only waited a few minutes before one of the men came into view. As soon as he turned his head and saw the suit Tony gave a hard punch, sending him flying across the cave. Olive gasped and covered her mouth as his squad mates started to open fire, though when they realized they weren't hitting anything they stopped. That was their chance. Tony turned and reminded Olive to stick close before stepping out into the open, taking out the other two men at the entrance of their prison in two hits. Once they were down, he wasted no time and starting for their first checkpoint. Even through the mask Olive could hear him counting his steps to their escape and she made sure to stay right behind him, using him and his suit as a shield from all the bullets being fired at them from ahead.

At their first stop, Tony took care of three more men before taking their first turn. The men had stopped shooting, realizing that it wasn't doing any damage and started to abandon ship. They all barricaded themselves behind a door, a door that Tony and Olive needed to get through. However one of their men didn't make it into the room with the rest of them. He was pounding on the door, begging to be let in with no reply. Tony stopped and turned his head back to speak to Olive, "Hang back for a sec."

She did as she was told, gingerly holding the weapon in her hands in what she hoped was a fire-ready position. Every now and then she would glance behind her, making sure that she didn't get taken down from behind. Her heart was racing a million miles a minute, terrified that she would get shot or taken back to that cave prison. There was so much adrenaline pumping through her veins and her hands shook so bad she could barely hold on to her weapon. The straps were digging into her shoulders from carrying that car battery, but she didn't care. They were getting out. After who knows how many weeks, they were getting out.

Olive looked away as Tony bashed the guy's head into the metal door, knocking the door down in the process. The men behind it started to scatter, running in the opposite direction of the suit and those who were brave enough to get even remotely close were knocked away with Tony's new-found super strength that the suit gave him. They were doing well, carving their way through the tunnels until Tony ended up with his arm stuck in the wall after knocking away one of the men in their way. He tugged and tugged to get himself unstuck without any luck and Olive tucked herself in behind him, hoping no one would see her. But her hopes were crushed when one of the men did spot her, approaching her slowly and raising his gun to aim it at her head. She had her gun pointed back at him, but it was clear that she had no idea what she was doing and probably wouldn't actually shoot. However she wasn't about to go down without a fight; just as he was about to shoot, Olive closed her eyes and knocked his gun upward, causing him to shoot the suit's head and the bullet to ricocheted back at him, killing him. Tony looked back at him then at Olive. She was breathing heavy and staring in awe at the guy on the ground. A fleeting since of pride welled up in Tony's chest but now was not the time. He pulled his arm free from the rock wall and started forward.

"No time to celebrate, Ricochet. Time to go!" he called out over his shoulder. She did not hesitate to run and catch up to him. The coast was pretty much clear from there on out. But one turn had Olive's heart dropping into her stomach at the sight of a familiar face lying out in the dirt, covered in blood.

"Yinsen!" she started for him and he tried to stop her but it was too late. A huge bullet came out of nowhere and grazed her lower thigh before hitting the wall behind her and exploding. Tony's line of sight pinpointed where the bullet came from and found the leader of the Ten Rings standing at the entrance to the cave with one of his weapons. He pulled open a compartment in his left forearm and pulled on a string, sending a small, exploding missile at him. It initially missed him but caused a part of the rock ceiling above him to collapse right on top of him. Tony took what he could get and turned his attention back to Olive. She had made her way to Yinsen's side and shoved the supply bag that was lying on top of him to the floor so he could breathe.

"Olive, your leg," Once glance at her thigh and Tony knew it was bad. However she was simply ignoring it.

"I'm fine, I'll be fine." She said. She was more concerned about Yinsen, who didn't seem to be in good shape.

"Stark." He said. Tony kneeled down and raised his mask.

"Come on. We gotta go." He said. He was sweating profusely and he looked utterly exhausted, but his blood was boiling with hot determination, "Move for me, come on. We got a plan. We're gonna stick to it."

"This was always the plan, Stark."

"No, Yinsen. We're gonna get you back to your family, remember?" Olive choked back tears, brushing off some of the dirt and sand that covered Yinsen's chest. He turned to her and gave a weak smile, taking her hand in a weak grip.

"Olive, my family is dead. I'm going to see them now." He said. Tears finally spilled over in her eyes, leaving clean streaks where the salt water cleaned the dirt and grime from her cheeks and Yinsen tried to comfort her, "It's okay. I want this." He turned his head back to Tony, "I want this."

Olive looked over at Tony, covering her mouth with her hand and it was clear that he was trying hard not to give in to his own tears. He smirked, the ghost of a smile on his lips as he spoke, "Thank you for saving me. For saving us."

"Don't waste it. Don't waste your life."

And just like that, he was gone. What little grip he had on Olive's hand loosened and fell into her lap. She squeezed her eyes shut, holding back the sobs that threatened to rack her frame and Tony had had the last straw. It was as if the suit itself switched into high gear and he turned over to her.

"Can you stand?" he said. If she was honest, she'd forgotten all about her leg. She looked down at it and used the wall to try and stand; she was able to get on her feet but with every step she took there was a shot of pain that surged through her whole right side. She was trying to remain calm, Tony could see that, but she was so scared, so broken. She shook her head and looked up at him, apologizing profusely but he stopped her.

"No, you don't get to apologize." He said, "None of this was your fault, and I promised to get us home. I'm getting us home. Now come on, we've got this." He turned, instructing her to grab on to a piece of the suit, "Olive, you've got this. We're almost there. Just stay right behind me."

Olive was in so much pain it was unreal but she remained silent, biting her lip until it bled. Tony knew she was hurting and they needed to get out of there. He led them as slow as he could into the sunlight and she winced at the blinding light she hadn't seen in weeks while Tony took in the situation in front of him, being faced with several armed members of the Ten Rings. There was a moment of quiet before they all opened fire on them and Tony took it without reciprocating fire. Olive pinned herself the back of the suit, screaming in fear of being shot again. But when it stopped she could almost feel Tony smirk through the suit.

"My turn."

He flipped a switch and huge waves of flames came flooding out of the arms of his suit, reaching huge lengths and setting anyone within several yards of them on fire. Slowly, he started to move and Olive went with him as he set just about everything on fire. They were doing well for themselves, Olive and Tony using the suit as a huge shield and being basically surrounded by fire kept everyone away from them. A few in the mountains started to open fire on them, slowing them down but they kept a steady pace until on bullet hit a weak spot in the suit and took Tony down. Olive called out to him and ducked down. He pulled her under him, yelling for her to hang on as he flipped a switch in his arm and grabbed hold of her. The next thing she knew they were both in the air, several feet above the village they had been held hostage in for so long. They weren't getting the altitude they needed until something below them exploded, setting off a chain reaction and giving off enough blast force to get them out of there. And just like that, they'd done it. They were home free. There was a moment of bliss where Olive felt the wind in her face and the sun on her skin, but it didn't last very long and they were faced with another issue. Their propulsion equipment was failing, leaving them to fall without a shoot. Olive gripped the suit tight just as Tony tightened his grip on her, turning over so that they would land on his back and she wouldn't be crushed. They hit the sand with a hard thud and Olive was thrown from his grasp, rolling over the top of the hot sand.

"Not bad." Tony muttered, pulling his helmet off. The suit itself was completely destroyed and he had gotten himself somewhat buried in the sand on impact. He started to peel himself out of what was left as Olive lifted herself up to a sitting position.

"Olive, are you okay?" Tony said, only a mild level of panic and worry in his voice.

"Yeah, uh, I'm okay." She replied, rather unconfidently. The escape had ripped her clothes, completely exposing her bullet wound, showing her that it was a lot worse than she thought. Quickly, before Tony saw, she took a piece of clothe from her shirt and tied it around her thigh, hiding it just as he made his way over to her.

"How's your leg?"

"It's fine." Came her short reply. He helped her to her feet and her whole body tightened, forcing herself to ignore the immense pain that was coming from her leg. She could tell that Tony didn't believe her but he didn't question her any further. She was about to comment on what they should do next when she realized that she felt much lighter, like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Then she realized and her eyes went wide.

Her battery was gone.


	6. Chapter 6

**Y'all, I am so sorry. This chapter has been written for like a week but I got sucked into another fanfiction and I just couldn't put it down. I read all three parts in a week. Shout out to SolasShines for writing one hell of a Kakashi-based fanfic!**

 **Anyway, here you are, my dears! Enjoy!**

"Tony, I have to stop." Olive fell to her knees in the sand. Exhausted and injured, her body was finally giving in to it. They'd been wondering around for hours with no other sign of civilization and Olive had just about had enough. Tony turned back and took a knee next to her, taking a look at the wound on her leg and making a face. With all the dirt and sand and god knows what else getting into it, the wound was starting to get infected. It wasn't horrible, but he needed to get her to a hospital as soon as possible. She sat down and looked at him with the biggest unintentional puppy eyes and he sighed.

"Here, let me see your chest."

Olive smirked, "How many times a day did you say that back home?"

Tony couldn't help but smile at the sense of humor that she seemed to be holding onto and pulled open her shirt. Her bandages were still holding okay, and the wires he'd rigged to her magnet seemed to still be doing their job. He thought about their crash landing and the fleeting moment of bliss they had before they realized that one: now they were stuck out in the desert with no food, water, or shelter; and two: Olive's battery and wires were gone.

 _"_ _Tony, what am I gonna do?" Olive started searching frantically for the big black box that was keeping her alive. Without that magnet she probably had a few days before that shrapnel get to her heart, but who knows how long they were going to be stuck out there? Tony came running after her, stopping her before she ended up with a panic attack._

 _"_ _Olive, listen to me." He said, grabbing her shoulders and forcing her to stop, "You're going to be okay. We are going to be okay, do you understand me? We'll find the battery."_

 _"_ _But what if it got destroyed in the landing?"_

 _"_ _Then we'll figure something else out. I'll give you the arc reactor if I have to."_

 _"_ _No! Tony, you can't-!"_

 _"_ _Olive, stop. We've made it this far, we can't give up now. We're gonna make it home."_

 _Olive was quiet a moment and Tony waited for her to speak. He needed her to be stable before they moved on or they weren't gonna make it very far._

 _"_ _Am I gonna die?" she finally said, "Without the battery?"_

 _Tony sighed. She was scared, he knew she was. Hell, he was scared. He pulled her into his chest, a reflex that was not normal for him but over the course of their imprisonment, this woman that he'd thought he'd known for years suddenly brought out another side of himself he didn't even know he had. But they needed each other, now more than ever. If they thought building that suit and getting out of the cave was hard, finding some way to get home was going to be nearly impossible. He held her at arm's length and looked her straight in the eye, "No, Olive, you're not going to die. Not today at least, and not on my watch."_

 _He led her back to the pile of iron suit pieces and pulled a piece of cloth from his jacket that had gotten ripped on impact and wrapped it around her thigh, on top of the piece that was already there and she had already bled through, to stop the bleeding. That's when he noticed how small she was, and in turn how small he was. They both had some arm muscles from wielding all day every day for so many weeks, but the rest of their bodies were small, malnourished. The Ten Rings fed them enough to keep them alive but no more than that._

 _Once his makeshift bandage was secure they started to look for the big black box and some wires, all the while Tony was keeping an eye out in case anyone survived the explosion of the Ten Rings' camp and decided to come after them. It seemed hopeless, and the wind was starting to bury all of the pieces in sand. Olive let out a frustrated breath and sat in the sand with her legs to her electromagnet, resting her chin in her knees, and that's when she saw it. She sat up a little bit straighter, squinting in the bright sunlight at the small, black something sticking out of the sand, blue and red strings of some sort not too far from it._

 _"_ _Tony," she said, her voice small and unsure of her discovery and not wanting to get his or her own hopes up but he stood up straight from having been bent down to dig in the sand and followed her gaze as she stood up and started for what she hoped was the battery, shouting with excitement when she realized that's exactly what it was. She never thought she would actually be excited to see it again but she ran straight for it with the biggest smile, skidding into the sand next to it on her knees and began digging. Tony was right behind her, reaching her just as she pulled the battery out of the sand with a smile. She yanked the wires that had come off of it and smiled up at Tony, "Can you fix it? Will this keep me alive?"_

 _The corner of Tony's mouth pulled up and he sat in the sand next to her, "Let's see what we can do."_

"Your head is bleeding again." Olive reached up and lifted the material he had wrapped around his head to protect himself from the sun, inspecting the gash he'd gotten from the crash landing.

"I'll be fine." He closed her shirt back up and winced at the movement. Olive furrowed her brow.

"You're hurt more than you thought you were."

"I'll be alright. Are you sure you can't keep going?"

It was excruciatingly hot, as to be expected, and they were right at the bottom of a large sand dune and Tony wanted to see if there might be a village or something on the other side. When he explained this to Olive she sighed, but nodded. She adjusted the straps for her battery that was slung onto her back and Tony helped her to her feet, helping her up the sand dune as slowly and steadily as he could. They would be lying if they said they didn't each have a little bit of hope that there was something or someone on the other side, but that hope was crushed when they got to the top and found nothing but miles and miles of sand.

Olive's knees buckled again and Tony was the only thing holding them up. He was about to say something that he hoped would lift their spirits, then he heard it. It was very faint at first but quickly grew louder and louder and he just knew that the desert had to be playing tricks on him. He and Olive turned their heads and saw a helicopter flying overhead. Keeping one arm around each other they each used their free arm to call attention to themselves, yelling and screaming and running for the helicopter. It stopped and both of them raised to fingers to signal peace and it started to descend. They took off running as fast as their weak bodies would carry them To both Tony and Olive's surprise, as they slowed their pace, they reached for each other's hand before falling to their knees in the sand.

A small group of American soldiers jumped out of the helicopter as soon as it landed and started running for them, and right in the front was none other than Colonel James Rhodes. Olive raised her hand to her mouth, sobbing at the sight of him. She hadn't really cried since they were first captured and now it was all hitting her very hard and very fast. She leaned over into Tony's chest and he didn't hesitate to wrap his arm around her, burying his face in her neck.

"We did it, Olive," he whispered, close to tears himself, "We're going home."

Rhodey approached them and they looked up at him with a look of happiness, joy, pain, exhaustion, all of it. He was quiet a moment, taking in the sight of them before he spoke: "How was the 'fun-vee'?"

Laughing hurt, but neither of them could help the chuckle that escaped from deep in their chests. Olive rested her head on Tony's shoulder and he tightened his grip on her hand as Rhodey squatted down in front of them, gripping Tony's shoulder, "Next time, you ride with me, okay?"

He nodded and Rhodey turned to Olive. There were tears streaming down her face and he shook his head with a smirk, "And you need to learn to take orders better."

She just smiled at him and he wrapped his arms around both of them, pulling them into his chest and he could feel both of them relax. But it only lasted a second. He got them both onto their feet and started for the helicopter, a soldier having to carry Olive when they realized how much pain she was in from her wounded leg. Someone else grabbed her battery and started to yank it away before Tony stopped them, showing them that she was connected and their eyes grew wide with fear. It took a little bit for Tony to convince them that it wasn't a bomb or a weapon of any kind before they let them on the helicopter. When they finally understood and get everyone on board and in the air, a couple of medical officers stepped in to look them over. Tony's arm had been dislocated and he had several cuts and bruises. When he told them the shortened version of how they escaped he was told he would need to be looked at for internal injuries. Olive was mostly fine, save for the nasty and infected missile-shot wound on her leg. She winced when they removed hers and Tony's makeshift bandage and even more so when they started to clean it up. Tony looked over from his stretcher and reached out to her with his good arm and she gladly took hold, gripping his palm as the doctors cleaned her wound with absolutely no gentleness. They landed at the base and they were taken away to be looked at; though they couldn't stay long. They had orders to get them back to the States as fast as possible. They kept them there long enough to get them cleaned up and bandaged up before being put back on a huge plane for the States.

* * *

The soldiers wheeled Tony and Olive into the plane that would take them home in wheelchairs, per policy orders, and they sat there the whole flight with Rhodey and a few other soldiers by their side. He observed them throughout the flight, comparing it to the last long flight he had with them and he could tell something had changed. He hadn't gotten the full story from them, and he wasn't sure he ever would, but being stuck together in that prison for three months definitely changed them.

When they finally landed and the ridiculously large cargo hanger door opened, Rhodey helped Tony to his feet. Olive's leg injury prevented her from walking, so one of the accompanying soldiers wheeled her with her car battery in her lap next to Rhodey as he helped Tony down the big ramp towards the small welcoming party on the airport runway. Olive wiped tears away when she saw Pepper and Happy waiting for them. She exchanged a look with Tony as an emergency medical team approached them but he waved them off.

"Are you kidding me with this?" he said, "Get rid of them."

"Tony, Olive needs immediate medical care." Rhodey replied.

That stopped Tony in his tracks, "What do you mean?"

"You may be in good enough shape to refuse medical assistance, but we have to take her to the hospital."

Tony looked down at her and saw her scared eyes. They hadn't been apart for three months until now, and he was surprised by the light skip his heart made at the thought of not being by her side. He shook it off and kneeled down next to her, "I will be right there as soon as I can, okay?"

She nodded her head, letting their hands linger where she didn't even know she'd been holding them. Pepper and Happy joined them, while Tony talked to the medics and Olive swore she heard him threaten them if they removed the magnet. Pepper reached down to hug her with pure joy and relief. Both girls had happy tears in their eyes and Happy also bent down to hug her before they took her away. She gave one last look at Tony before she was led away on the gurney. Tony watched her go before turning back to Pepper, who was wiping tears from her eyes.

"Your eyes are red." He told her, "A few tears for your long-lost boss?"

"Tears of joy. I hate job hunting." She replied, "And the Olive is alive. I don't know how I would survive this job without her."

"Yeah, looks like you're gonna have to last a little bit longer without her. Vacation's over."

The three of them piled into the car and Happy looked back at Tony in the rearview mirror, "Where to, sir?"

"Take us to the hospital, please, Happy." Pepper instructed. But Tony stopped her and she looked at him with confused eyes, "No? Tony, you have to go to the hospital."

"No." he repeated. He was watching the vehicle that was taking Olive to the hospital, "No is a complete answer."

"The doctor has to look at you."

"I don't have to do anything. I've been in captivity for three months. There are two things I want to do. I want an American cheeseburger," he paused, "and the other…"

"That's enough of that."

"Is not what you think. I want you to call for a press conference now."

"Call for a press conference? What on earth for?"

"Hogan, drive. Cheeseburger first."


End file.
